Metalcatto
It’s time for children’s favorite sub-genre. The one that needs no introduction. The one with the dank memes. The one your grandparents think about when it comes to Metal representation. The most beloved and hated at the same time: Black Metal. Reducing this list to a handful of albums was an odyssey. With great releases from Necrowretch, or Hulder to Misotheist, or Vredehammer narrowing it down wasn’t easy. But enough with honorable mentions—let’s get to it!
6. Aara – Eiger
An album that totally caught me by surprise, and I thought carefully about whether to include it. But then I realized this type of Black Metal needed at least one representative on my list. Harsh, unforgiving, but beautifully crafted (it’s really its melodic side that sets it apart), Eiger’s long and treacherous trip feels like climbing the most brutal and freezing mountain. You can only appreciate its might once you’ve finally reached the top. This album could’ve been a borefest, but it ended up being a spiritual experience.
5. Selbst – Despondency Chord Progressions
If you’ve been following my Lost in the Riffstorm saga, you’ll know there was a running joke about me finding disturbing baby cover art this year. This is the lost one! I found it! You have no idea how happy it makes me to see a band that doesn’t come from Europe or North America releasing an album this deep. Despondency is what Atmospheric Black Metal should aspire to be: emotional displays that left me in awe combined with high-level musicianship—which, let’s be real, is rare in anything atmospheric. Phenomenal songwriting and lyrical work. It’s an album that leaves you crushed, drained, but feeling so much better.
4. Gaerea – Coma
If Gaerea decides one day to produce its albums with more dynamic range, the Black Metal world will be turned upside down with ease. But until then, we’re left with amazing songwriting, style, and raw catharsis. The so-called stadium Black Metal presented in Coma is just that—a test of a band that will probably sell out arenas one day but has never compromised its vision. This sorrowful, intense, and liberating journey leans more into MeloBlack than before and is a must for anyone into extreme Metal. You could argue whether it’s better than Limbo or Mirage, but you can’t argue that Gaerea is synonymous with quality.
3. Spectral Wound – Songs of Blood and Mire
An absolute assault on the senses, Spectral Wound is one of the most interesting bands in Black Metal right now. Its sound is familiar yet distinctly fresh. Songs of Blood and Mire isn’t a pretentious album; it hits with the dryness and rawness of an abandoned road. Despite the evident structure in the songs, they always offer something new. Black Metal can sometimes overcomplicate itself with all the sadness and gloom musicians are trying to portray, but Spectral Wound brings back the aggression and anger that made so many fall in love with the genre in the first place. This is the best no-nonsense Black Metal album of the year.
2. Kanonenfieber – Die Urkatastrophe
It’s been the year of war-themed Black Metal (more on that later). I appreciate that Kanonenfieber has a direct and simple formula—almost a Black N’ Roll approach—but the depth in which it dives into the horror and futility of throwing millions of young men into the meat grinder is something else. Not many bands take their themes as seriously as Kanonenfieber. Die Urkatastrophe focuses on WWI, but it never glorifies it. If anything, it mocks the absurd “strategies” of military leaders during one of history’s darkest periods. I could penalize how similar this album is to its predecessor, but the writing, production, and pacing are just too good!
1. Panzerfaust – The Suns of Perdition – Chapter IV: To the Shadow Zion
I probably have many ideological differences with the members of Panzerfaust, but we can all agree that war is a horrible thing that shouldn’t exist, as it reduces humanity to its worst. If Kanonenfieber explores war in a concrete, historical way, Panzerfaust tackles it symbolically and metaphysically. Chapter IV is the culmination of a four-album effort, and it’s undoubtedly the most ambitious of the series. Layered melodies, diverse vocal styles, and intricate rhythms are cleverly disguised under an apparent simplicity and repetition, which only makes its ideas more impactful. In a sea of recycled ideas in Black Metal, nothing else this year sounded like this album—and that’s the highest compliment I can give.
That’s it, my corpse-painted children! What are your favorites? Let me know in the comments—more top lists are on the way, and maybe one or two surprises as well!
Metal Eclipse Reviews 